And, of course, you’ll want to have a traditional Christmas lasagna.
The English in-laws introduced me to this and I heartily endorse it. Turkey, I can take or leave, but for bread sauce I’ll definitely take it!
I have never heard of bread sauce, what exactly is it?
Pigs in a blanket…I’m assuming its not the Americanized pigs in a blanket?
Actually, we DO traditionally have a lasagna around Christmas in my family, for when we want something other than turkey. It’s generally not served on Christmas day, but over the holiday, generally it’s made and served a couple of days after Christmas.
I’m not going to try to claim that this is an English tradition, though. It’s definitely from my dad’s side of the family.
Nothing remotely english about a green bean casserole, I’m afraid.
Also, as Marcus points out, Roast beef isn’t traditional for Christmas day, even if 'some’people do it. Turkey is it, with a few posh people having goose.
Obligatory components:
- Christmas Crackers. You must pull these before you eat, read out the silly jokes to the whole table, gawp at the crapness of the plastic toy inside and wear your paper hat for at least the rest of the meal, if not the rest of the day. Christmas isn’t Christmas without the crackers.
- Stuffing, either pork and sage or chestnut, or both.
- Pigs in blankets: these are cocktail sausages wrapped in bacon. YUM.
- Sprouts. Nobody likes them, but everyone has to eat at least one.
- Roast potatoes. Definitely never mashed.
- Cranberry sauce
- Homemade gravy
- Whatever other vegetables you prefer.
The meal should be finished off with a Christmas pudding. Wrap a pound (dollar) coin in foil and push it inside the pudding. Whoever gets the coin gets to make a wish, and keep the cash. In the kitchen, douse the pud in brandy and set fire to it, carrying the flaming pud into the dining room for everyone to ooh and aah over. Serve piping hot with cream, custard and brandy butter.
Then plonk yourself down on the sofa to watch the Queen’s speech at 3pm.
An ancient medieval warm sauce made from bread crumbs, milk, onion, bay leaf, cloves, pepper, mace, maybe some cream and some of the juices from the roasting tin. Traditionally served with roast birds, like chicken.
Excellent - you’ve picked up all the bits I missed. Particularly important are the crackers and paper hats and the flaming brandy on the Christmas pud - try not to mix the two 
Don’t tell anyone but frequently made using a packet of powder and a pint of milk!
Outrageous… 
My name is amanset and I endorse this post.
However, it al depends on what we mean by “traditional”. Do we mean “the way they used to do a century ago” or “what is considered tradition now”? Now is definitely turkey and has been for some decades. Back in the times of Dickens, less so.
You also missed Christmas Cake, you heathen. Some mince pies should be eaten at some point too.
Well, yes, plus the entire contents of a Cadbury’s selection box and several kilos of walnuts, but I was saving those for afters.
Two weeks ago, I ate my first brussel sprout, as an experiment. I didn’t dislike it. But then again, I didn’t get more, either.
Exactly. Some people say they like them, but never cook them other than at Christmas, even though they are readily available.
Every Christmas, magazines flood us with more and more elaborate ways of cooking sprouts – with bacon, with chestnuts, stuffed, shreaded, fried, creamed… basically every which way to disguise them as something else.
I do think you have to cook them in such a way as to take the oversprouty edge off. I like to trim them, halve them, fry until slightly blackened with a bit of garlic added late on, before adding a little stock to soften them satisfactorily.
You mean, like, tinned Vienna sausages (YIK!), or something more like English bangers? :dubious:
God no, not tinned. Like miniature english bangers, like these.
Aha! Those are available in Canada.
Is the bacon the streaky kind, or more like a proper rasher?
Normally streaky, for the full salt/fat attack.
If you want to see what they look like… They are normally roasted in the oven on a tray for about 20 mins, from memory.
Yum-O! 